Happy

This little girl makes my heart happy. 

How is it possible that next month she will be 2?

Kindergarten Graduate

Our sweet Maddox completed his first year of Kindergarten and is now officially a First Grader!!! Wow, I was not at all prepared for the flood of emotions I would feel that final week of school. I had such a mixture over overwhelming pride at his growth and accomplishments throughout his first year of school and yet I was struck with sorrow as I realized he is growing up on me way to quickly. I feel like the bubble we have placed around him is getting smaller and smaller by the day and I am going to wake up and he will be graduating from high school and moving off to college.
We have absolutely loved his Kindergarten teacher this semester as we transferred schools. She was such a sweet, kind, organized, fun, and loving teacher. She guided him not only academically, but also spiritually and helped guide his character. She emphasized being diligent with his school work and doing everything the best he possibly could. She took control of her classroom with a silent grace which blew my mind every time I was in her class. She was fantastic and I will always remember his first teacher.
So, while I am super sad to end such a fantastic year of school, I am beyond ready for summer time with the kiddos. I'm ready for a less structures routine, days spent swimming, and nights blowing bubbles and looking at the stars!!

Living

I am, by nature, a planner. I like to know what to expect during my week. I like to know when I need to be somewhere and I am very rarely late. I am beginning to see that my planning is getting in the way of living. I start my day off already planning the day. First we eat breakfast, then we run errands and eat lunch and take naps and go get Maddox from school and then do laundry, homework, dinner, soccer practices, showers and time for bed. My head is always going toward what task needs to be taken care of next. My planning nature can be very handy in keeping a routine and guaranteeing that we arrive to our destination on time; however, I am realizing that I am planning so much and not living nearly enough. I'm not taking the time to realize how beautiful it is outside and swooping the kids up to go to a fun park or just on a walk outside. I'm over planning and under living. I'm allowing my kids to expect a routine everyday without experiencing new adventures. So, if the next time you see me I am running 15 minutes late, be sure to ask me what adventure we took on the way and please excuse my tardiness. So here's to less planning and more living!!!! These three joys deserve adventure, random water hose fights, freshly baked cookies, dirt under their finger nails, and sand in their shoes!

Mother's Day

This Mother's Day was such a joyful time as I actively reflected on the most important job I will ever have....being a mommy. There have been far too many days lately where I am grumpy and aggravated at my never ending tasks as a mom. What a waste of precious time! I am trying to step back and realize what a joy this motherhood job really is (even during the moments when I am far out numbered by Tiny humans). I don't get a do over or a second chance. We don't get to remake memories. All I have is now. What am I going to do with it? I want to make the best of every day. Sure, there will be challenging times...but even the challenges can be fun (or at least a teachable moment) if I allow them to be!!! There is no greater, more demanding, life changing job than that of being a momma and I don't want to miss another moment! So, here's to a new me. A better me. A better momma!!

Soccer Saturday

It was a fabulous day for a soccer game today! It's been so much fun to watch Maddox progress each week. He was able to get the ball kicked away from a crowd of kids and he ran the ball all the way down to the goal. He was so super close to scoring a goal!!! It was awesome to see his practice with dribbling the ball and maintaining control with the ball pay off for him in a game!!

It was an especially fun game this week because his cousin Mollie, was playing at the same time on the field directly across from his! Fun cousin time at the soccer field. 

We ended the day with a yummy yummy dinner at Texas Roadhouse!!! 

Who else loves this pic of me and harpoo and the photo bomb of her baby doll!!!!! Such a blessed momma. 

Definitely missing our Paxton, but I'm soaking up the moments with a little less chaos with man on man coverage with Brad and two kiddos (but definitely ready to have my trio back....it's just not the same without one!) 

Friday Funday

Paxton had the super fun privilege to ride to Oklahoma City with Kim and Austin and spend the weekend with grandmom and grandad Voda!! He is super excited to have some alone time with the grands, but when he gets to go alone, we have one little boy at home who is bummed that he needed to stay because of school obligations. Therefore, I tried to make this afternoon special, so I took Maddox and Harper to Bahama Bucks (a lovely snow cone place) followed by a trip to the science spectrum and outdoor play time. Now...We are drowning in the midst of temper tantrums with our precious Harper Grace, so I am always a bit tentative to take miss priss anywhere public. She certainly didn't disappoint with her high pitched screech at the snow cone shop because she wanted to feed herself the red snow cone with her spoon upside down. Eeeek....she did much better at the Science Spectrum and we all had a wonderful time!!!

Preschool Program

Our big boy, Paxton, had his preschool program today! He did fantastic! He was oh so handsome, cute as can be and he knew every word and hand motion to the songs!! I am so proud of how brave he was and how wonderfully her preformed! Way to go Paxton. Once again, we are all so impressed with how far he has come socially over this past year!!!

Harper's Babies

Harper LOVES babies. I have never seen a child have such a strong, natural loving nurturing personality at such an early age. She knows how to hold her little doll baby, pat the baby's bottom, burp the baby and occasionally drop and throw the baby, thus reassuring us that SHE in fact is still a baby herself and cannot hold, burp console REAL babies just yet!!!!

I wanted to document her everyday happenings with her little baby dolls. It's almost like playing "where's Waldo" when I look through my pictures to see if the baby doll is with Harper!!

As much as she loves her baby dolls, she would be very appreciative if her baby cousin Ruby Grace could be her very own real life baby doll. The bond these girls are forming is so sweet to watch (and sometimes the crazy comes out in miss Harper and the biggest temper tantrums ever are shown when she isn't allowed to take care of Ruby on her own....but we will just document the super cute moments she shows..ha)

He Makes me Better

Oh my sweet hearted Maddox never ceases to amaze me with his longing desire to know more about Jesus and to show His love!! This weekend, he had a soccer game and was playing a super aggressive team with a kid that was not the nicest and showed very poor sportsmanship. After the game Maddox walked over to us and broke down crying because the kid knocked him down and called him stupid. Now my first instinct was to March my momma bear hiney over to that boy and his dad and give them a good piece of my mind. But I held that back and had a good talk about being a good winner and a good looser and how it just makes that boy look silly. After a while Maddox came back and talked some more about the "bully" and he sweetly said "momma, do you know why that boy chose to speak to me that way? Momma, he let Satan tell him how to act. It's my job with Jesus in my heart to show him that Jesus loves us!"

Be still my heart. He is so grown up and it amazes me how he loves The Lord with all his heart. Thank you Maddox for making me want to be a better lady!!!

Maddox holding Ruby while waiting for his game to start....Brad and Paxton watching the game together!

Paxton's Field Trip

Paxton had a super fun field trip to Jump 'n Jungle today!! Boy oh boy, he was so excited. He got to ride the school bus and jump for two hours!! He was so big and brave! He went down every slide/bouncy house and smiled the whole time!! He has become great friends with a little girl in his class....so adorable. They were a blur running together all morning!!

I am so super proud of our little man. He has come so far this year!!!

I'm baaaack

Oh my mercy...will I ever catch up on this blog??? Once again, I have no clever way to update our everyday lives, so I will just write about our everyday happenings!

Since I posted last we have had a round of sickness in our household for a solid month (obviously the virus' are shared amongst the three kiddos...aren't they so sweet to share with each other!!!) Maddox had a nasty upper respiratory infection that they thought was pneumonia (thankfully it was not). Paxton also had the nasty upper respiratory infection that caused him to cough so much he would gag. The boys then shared the bug with Harper, only hers was diagnosed as Strep (AGAIN.....3 times in one month...she just couldn't fully recover from it). Harper then caught the tummy bug from Hell. This bug is nasty. She was oh so sweet to share the bug with me on Easter Sunday (which was also Paxton's 4th birthday AND we were in Oklahoma City....good times).

Maddox then started having a hard time breathing and was coughing a lot more...they think he has asthma and he now has an inhaler to use before he exercises or to help with his cough when he needs it.

Harper then caught the tummy bug again and this time in landed her in an urgent care clinic for IV fluids because she was so dehydrated and miserable. 

Whew....this round of sickness needs to leave for good. Don't these germs know it is May!?!

In between all the sicknesses we celebrated sweet Paxton's 4th birthday!!! How is it possible that he is already four years old?

 After turning 4 he has discovered he is much braver than he was at 3. He is a spunky, sassy little thing and he brings so much joy and laughter. Who else is super excited to not be living the terrifying 3s any more. Oh age 4 has to be easier....it just has to be. Ha. 

We have been spending our Saturdays at the soccer field watching the boys play. They are both learning so much and are starting to figure out the game a little bit more every time. Paxton no longer cries on the field and every now and again actually kicks the ball...I chalk that up as a major success! Maddox is becoming more aware of the ball, his team mates and the goal!

Well, I think that has caught us up on the big events around here! Hopefully next time I have a more creative way to document our lives, but for now, this post will simply have to do! Let's pray the next time I post, this baby girl is back to her sweet self....the pouty lip is about to do me in!! Somebody just go buy her a pony already!!!